My Neighbor Is A Silver Haired Banshee - 12 Where Is Betha? Sunday, 22 December 2019

Apollo stared blankly at the cherubs surrounding the crucifix and barely paid attention to the introductory rites. He and Mrs. Rodriguez were seated at the second row of pew which was quite near the altar. During the Liturgy of the Word, Apollo barely understood the Biblical readings then the priest announced, “Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent,” then briefly explained the word advent which meant “the coming of something, or someone significant.” After a while, he discussed the Homily’s theme which was, “Joseph, Do Not Be Afraid to Take Mary Your Wife” from Matthew 1:18:25.

Apollo looked like he was attentive during the Sunday mass, but his mind wandered. It had been more than four months since Betha disappeared and he didn’t know whether to go crazy or act like nothing happened because he just knew her for a few days. But in those few days of knowing her a lot has changed — his life became interesting as if it was a fantasy movie. Often, Apollo wondered if he just had a dream – that Betha did not exist and there was no such thing as a banshee. He thought it would’ve been easy if it were just a beautiful dream that he messed up because he tried to kiss a girl who didn’t want to kiss him. But more than the humiliation he felt, he was worried. Where is Betha? He thought to himself while looking at the cherubs as if one of them would come alive and help him find her.

Mrs. Rodriguez noticed his son hasn’t been singing along during the Sunday mass. Despite his laidback personality, he was a responsible Catholic who never missed his Sunday obligation. He would always sing along as the choir sang during the entrance, Gloria, Psalm 112 and throughout the entire mass until the sending part. Though he didn’t look like the serious type, he was always cooperative and attentive behind his oversized white t-shirt, cargo pants, and his ever-favorite white Fila Disruptor II shoes. Mrs. Rodriguez never saw his son as the lonesome type; he was just cheerful, sweet, and still acted like a kid whenever he goofed around with his friend Gab. He seemed genuinely happy and excited when Betha suddenly entered his life but now, she didn’t know how to comfort her own son because he wouldn’t tell her what happened. The only thing she was sure of was that Betha was gone. She didn’t know if his son knew why and whether he was the reason she left. The house in front of their residence had been vacant for more than four months and she wondered why there was no sign showing “House for Rent.” “Maybe Betha didn’t intend to leave after all.” Mrs. Rodriguez thought.

“Baby, let’s dine at Samgyeopsal. I’m starving.” Mrs. Rodriguez uttered the minute the mass ended.

Apollo nodded. “Sure, mom.”

For more than four months his reaction to eating at a nice Korean restaurant didn’t bring joy to him anymore. It crushed Mrs. Rodriguez’ heart to see his son not eating as much as he did before. He lost a lot of weight; he was bigger than Gab but now, Gab was bigger than him. She contemplated on talking to him once and for all, but she had been a young adult before, and she knew that it took a long time for a heartbreak to mend. She just wished she knew what really happened. They were passing through a group of people towards the church’s exit when Apollo suddenly stopped with wide eyes. “What is it, baby? Is something wrong?”

“Betha.” Apollo uttered, his eyes fixed on a woman with long black hair and olive skin. She looked like Betha, except she wasn’t. When Apollo realized that, the expression on his hopeful face deteriorated.

“Oh, my baby. You’re making me cry right now.” Mrs. Rodriguez was teary-eyed but before she could even start to cry, Apollo suddenly hugged her.

“Oh my God, mom. Why would you cry?” He instantly released her from his warm embrace only to see such worried face. “Let’s go, mom. I’ll drive. Give me the keys.” They headed towards his mom’s white Acura. When they both got settled inside the car, Apollo was about to start the engine but then his mom was crying silently. “Mom, why are you crying?”

She tried to hold back her tears, but she just couldn’t hide the agony anymore. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t bear to see you so lonely like this, baby. You have been so depressed since Betha left and I never asked why because it might trigger something that is more painful to you. I thought you just needed time and you’ll somehow open up to me and tell me what happened. But you know what? I’m not even going to ask you where Betha is. I wanna know where is Apollo? Where is my son?” She broke down with more tears and sobbed until Apollo leaned closer to embrace her.

“I’m here, mom. I’m here. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to be worried like this.” Apollo felt so scared and guilty. He had never seen his mom cry even when she had a hard time dealing with his irresponsible father way back. It was the first and hopefully the last time he’d see his mom crying. He then realized he hasn’t been himself for a long time and never thought his mom would be so hurt at seeing him so unhappy. More than his miserable feeling, his mom was probably more miserable to see him and not able to do anything to make him happy. He thought to himself, “I’ll be back, mom. I’ll be back so stop crying.”

Apollo was lucky to find a parking space in front of Samgyeopsal. Mrs. Rodriguez was fixing his mascara through the car’s small mirror when he glanced at her, smiled then stroke her hair. “You’re doing a good job, mom. You look pretty now but don’t take too much time doing your makeup or you’ll look like a celebrity.”

Mrs. Rodriguez chuckled, put back the mascara in her purse then zipped it. “Are you back?”

Apollo nodded. “I will. Little by little, mom. For Pete’s sake please don’t cry ever again. It takes way too long for you to fix your makeup and I’m starving.” They both laughed.

The table exuded the most delicious aroma of Korean dishes coming from the Bulgogi (marinated beef barbecue), Samgyeopsal (pork strips), Japchae (stir-fried noodles), Kimchi and Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) they have ordered. “Welcome back, baby.” Mrs. Rodriguez uttered as she held her chopsticks.

Apollo’s eyes were once again full of love for food, so he smiled and responded cheerfully. “Mom, it’s like a feast in here. I guess the food has summoned my trapped soul or something.” He chuckled. After a few minutes of silent but enjoyable moment of eating their sumptuous meal, his mobile phone rang. He put his chopsticks down and checked both his pockets for his phone. After finding it in his right pocket, “Whiny Gab” flashed on his phone. “What’s up, bro?”

On the other end of the line, Gab was in a huge vintage library with intricate architectural design. He was seated like a buddha in between two high mahogany-paneled bookshelves. “Wow, you sound lively now. I hope you’re okay. Listen. You might not want to remember anything about Betha so I’m sorry if I’m bringing this up now when you sound okay. But this is important. I was just going to pick up something for my sister’s research project but then I thought maybe I should look around. And so, I searched for banshee books and was surprised to see one very old… and I’m talking about something that looks like that one from the Charmed television series. And it sure looks very, very interesting.” He paused then looked at the old book on his lap. “Anyway, you won’t believe this. I found out that when a banshee kisses someone whom she loves and loves her despite her creepy banshee form, the banshee will consume the guy’s youth, she will lose the ugly form and become beautiful forever.” Gab took a deep breath.

“Really?” Apollo asked.

“Yes. Really. But here’s a catch. It will end the guy’s life. The guy will die, bro.”

Apollo couldn’t hide the exhilaration, so he covered his mouth from disbelief then responded. “So, you mean to say…Betha actually loves me?” He let out a beaming smile while his mom gave him a puzzled face.